Speaker 1: The Around the NFL Podcast. Thanks Duck is the best
Speaker 1: type of meat out there, erroneous. Welcome back to another
Speaker 1: edition of the Around the NFL Podcast presented by New Era.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansas and I'm joined in a
Speaker 1: room filled with heroes Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, and Greg Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: What is up, boys? Hey? Dan? Well d G. I
Speaker 1: am when I mean it, Yes, I will not. You
Speaker 1: are looking at me as if I'm supposed to say
Speaker 1: something to nothing to say. One day away from getting
Speaker 1: on that plane, have you guys like started packing or
Speaker 1: preparing it all? Uh? No, We are leaving for London
Speaker 1: tomorrow and I have a lot of work to do,
Speaker 1: both from packing but also clerical work that I have
Speaker 1: to get taken care of right after today's show. And
Speaker 1: I'll leave it at that. What about you, guys? I
Speaker 1: went out yesterday, um, took a little trip to and
Speaker 1: also Ralph's to buy an assortment of toiletries to refresh
Speaker 1: that dub kid um because we're gonna be gone formart
Speaker 1: for a while. Smart. Yeah, We're gonna be done like
Speaker 1: nine days. How about us? For the first time ever?
Speaker 1: It was an off day yesterday along with Mark, but
Speaker 1: I got my beard trimmed professionally for the first time.
Speaker 1: That is that is good prep wow, fancy If you
Speaker 1: guys can get quapped upstairs, I can get trimmed down Yeah,
Speaker 1: tell me more downstairs. Um. Yes, the Big Trip is
Speaker 1: coming to London. It's it's less than twenty four hours away. Uh.
Speaker 1: And as you know over in the UK, we have
Speaker 1: a live show on Tuesday that listen a little little
Speaker 1: botch little botch of the time zone or was it
Speaker 1: or was it kind of like one of those like
Speaker 1: cool leg you know, edgy radiohead ticket releases. We dropped
Speaker 1: the tickets at two am London time on Wednesday for
Speaker 1: our limited tickets available live show on Tuesday. Scooped up
Speaker 1: almost immediately, even though it was the middle of the night.
Speaker 1: I don't know if people would have you, um from
Speaker 1: that side of the of the pond, if you want
Speaker 1: to say, view that as an edgy radio head type maneuver.
Speaker 1: The response was less than well, what's the difference? Though?
Speaker 1: The tickets are gonna go quickly, and whoever just happens
Speaker 1: to see the link when it comes out relatively was
Speaker 1: gonna get it. So it's all sympathetic. I haven't heard
Speaker 1: a word. But I'm glad because you know what, the
Speaker 1: people of that up are up in the middle of
Speaker 1: the night. Those are our kind of people, and they're
Speaker 1: gonna be making some noise. I mean to not have
Speaker 1: heard a word, though, Greg, you would have had to
Speaker 1: probably mute or block almost anyone listening to the show.
Speaker 1: The tweet tweeted tweeted anger about that. But I know
Speaker 1: you have not seen it. I've gotten several I'm not
Speaker 1: necessarily at haven't seen it. I'm not totally on top
Speaker 1: of you know, social media and mentions and whatnot. That's
Speaker 1: how um. So, yes, we're very excited. We're also going
Speaker 1: to be appearing on Sky Sports a bunch, especially on
Speaker 1: the Sunday of week one, uh, specifically the Sunday of
Speaker 1: week one, also doing some other fun stuff and and
Speaker 1: if you did want to go to that show, uh
Speaker 1: and you could not get tickets, we will be doing
Speaker 1: some type of meet up after the show, so we'd
Speaker 1: like to meet as many of you, probably a second
Speaker 1: one as well later in the week. Right, Well, we'll
Speaker 1: see you guys. I don't know what over here Tuesday night.
Speaker 1: Tuesday night though, Yeah, I'll be with Mark. Yeah, you guys,
Speaker 1: go forward, do it every night. That sounds good. Uh.
Speaker 1: Today's show is part two of our view of you know,
Speaker 1: our above the tree tops view to the borrow a
Speaker 1: little corporal parlance around the end of around the NFC
Speaker 1: in forty eight minutes. How fun? How fun is that? Uh?
Speaker 1: And so we have to go through that and then
Speaker 1: a little update at the end of the show. I
Speaker 1: haven't I have an idea I thought connected to um
Speaker 1: Wednesday's show, So we'll get to that. But uh, Emma,
Speaker 1: how are you? By the way, I'm doing well, living
Speaker 1: my best life, drinking out of the kroix. Is that
Speaker 1: did you get? Was that cleared with Mark? Now? You
Speaker 1: did not clear that with me at all. You don't
Speaker 1: have to clear to proper channels here. Please sorry about that.
Speaker 1: On your podcast you can do whatever you please. Obviously
Speaker 1: on ours you follow certain rules by not speaking band
Speaker 1: words would be you know one A, one A, one
Speaker 1: B top of the list. It's a little confusing, though,
Speaker 1: in your defense MTV, because Mark has used the band
Speaker 1: heard since well you're confused. I'm not confused. If I'm
Speaker 1: not confused in the links, I'm gonna probably keep using it.
Speaker 1: Don't let him man splain what's allowed and what's not.
Speaker 1: I like it. He brought it. He probably brought it
Speaker 1: back into the Yeah, if anything, I'm getting more of it.
Speaker 1: I I started a new Instagram account, and everyone's response
Speaker 1: to that was living your best life. All right, you
Speaker 1: know the rules? Maybe you know the rules. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you know the rules around the NFC. And
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes exactly three minutes on each team in
Speaker 1: the conference. There are fart teams in each division. There
Speaker 1: are far divisions far times for sixteen sixteen times three,
Speaker 1: you have really come around as a pretty good, very
Speaker 1: basic mathemats issues. It's pretty good, though, sixteen and three
Speaker 1: I don't even number the bar is outrageously well. So
Speaker 1: here we go there, and again I don't know what
Speaker 1: the malarkey that was going on here on Monday show,
Speaker 1: I was out Greg is in the chair and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, I look in the show is like
Speaker 1: an hour and forty minutes long for a forty eight
Speaker 1: minute exercise. See we're at six minutes now. You had
Speaker 1: you had forty eight minutes. That's fifty four. You have
Speaker 1: some bit in the middle at the end we had
Speaker 1: for ad read. So that's four minutes we had breaking
Speaker 1: news with Odell Beckhams that at and that's what we're
Speaker 1: gonna right now, and kept a very tight clock on
Speaker 1: the on on each of the segments. We didn't drift
Speaker 1: for an extra minute or two on. This was all good.
Speaker 1: Let's see the difference. That's all I'm gonna say. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's a controversial and it'll be late. A big way
Speaker 1: to set up, especially no news to start. I'll give
Speaker 1: you that you have no drops. That's why it's shorter.
Speaker 1: I mean, no, don't be defensive. Next time you're on vacation,
Speaker 1: as we soar towards the regular season, we'll try to do. Yeah,
Speaker 1: don't don't. Don't throw stones during your annual vacation in
Speaker 1: the middle of training camp. Hey, let's schedule that one again.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed your Monday shifts. Guys. Let's start
Speaker 1: it off with the NFC West. Let's fly all right,
Speaker 1: I'll get it going. The Rams. Yes, they've done a
Speaker 1: masterful job both through the draft and in free agency.
Speaker 1: And of course the big news that came out uh today,
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald now under contract. As we all thought it
Speaker 1: would and knew what would happen to actually is the
Speaker 1: highest paid player, uh, defensive player in the NFL. So
Speaker 1: you've got Donald under contract. Uh, this is a team
Speaker 1: with a star player at near nearly every level. Even
Speaker 1: the punch is a badass. My question to you guys,
Speaker 1: this is a team ready to win. I look at
Speaker 1: it and I see this as a team, including the Eagles,
Speaker 1: that should be the heavy favorite in the NFC this year.
Speaker 1: What is the achilles heel potentially that I'm missing because
Speaker 1: I don't see it well. The easy one right away
Speaker 1: is an injury to Jared Goff. Just take injuries out
Speaker 1: of it. Pass rusher, they're off. Their outside linebackers are
Speaker 1: among the worst position group in the NFL. We talked
Speaker 1: about the Jets not having any ed dreshers. The Rams
Speaker 1: do not have any addressers, to the point that they
Speaker 1: moved a guy in dominic easily that was a defensive
Speaker 1: tackle for some of his career out to the edge
Speaker 1: because they're just trying to find someone. They're constructing a
Speaker 1: deference in a very unique way. These huge, great guys
Speaker 1: up front in Donald, Sue and Brockers who are dominant,
Speaker 1: a dominant secondary, and then that linebacker group. Maybe they
Speaker 1: don't need great addresser. But that's one It does feel
Speaker 1: like some of the havoc that can create against the
Speaker 1: quarterback come right up the middle of the defense. But
Speaker 1: this is a little more vague than just the position group.
Speaker 1: But the natural the way that the NFL works, that
Speaker 1: what they achieved on offense last year, if the expectation
Speaker 1: is that they're gonna go out and roll through teams
Speaker 1: scoring that many points again, just year to year, with
Speaker 1: the way offenses and defenses flow, there's bound to be
Speaker 1: uh step up, step back on that level. They're not
Speaker 1: going to achieve to that level again, and that may
Speaker 1: they have to adjust to that too. We think he
Speaker 1: is right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if he is.
Speaker 1: But but typically, no matter what, when you have these
Speaker 1: peak seasons, you have to set a little Normally, we
Speaker 1: weren't a peak offense. I mean, they did so much
Speaker 1: better than they had the year before, but they weren't
Speaker 1: a top five offense in the NFL. They have a
Speaker 1: lot of room to improve, you know, like they can
Speaker 1: be better. I think the offensive line. That would be
Speaker 1: what I would be my point about injuries. That's fair
Speaker 1: to say take it out, but the greater point is
Speaker 1: depth is an issue, especially a backup quarterback, back up
Speaker 1: left tackle, and if Aaron Donald gets down, there's zero
Speaker 1: pass In general, their their line I think could be problematic.
Speaker 1: They also got s and football titers. I think forty
Speaker 1: extra points out of their special teams just in terms
Speaker 1: of value than any other team in the NFL. Can
Speaker 1: he be dominant on special teams a year after you? Uh?
Speaker 1: And if the shot? You know many times when a
Speaker 1: team has kind of a historic offensive year, the offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator then gets poached. But to West's point, you still
Speaker 1: got the same man behind the control panel. So I
Speaker 1: are they gonna have average thirty points again this year?
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe not, But I don't think they'll take They're
Speaker 1: gonna drop off. And I think there's just so many
Speaker 1: stars on this team. I just think this is the
Speaker 1: year should be better. That's the rest of the conference
Speaker 1: is tough to we get it. You know Dud's names. Enough.
Speaker 1: Moving on Seattle Seahawks, Mark Sesler, I think Seattle, we've
Speaker 1: been engaging the team's all the movements. It's the reverse
Speaker 1: rams where the rams are stockpiling and adding all these
Speaker 1: names to create look what looks like an all star team.
Speaker 1: Seattle dispensed with all the household names, and you've got
Speaker 1: John Schnyder and Pete Carroll left overseeing a roster that
Speaker 1: I think too many Seahawks fans feels entirely unfamiliar. To me.
Speaker 1: All these teams right now are interesting because we don't
Speaker 1: know what directions so many will go in the Seahawks. Really, legitimately,
Speaker 1: I'm more interested in this team than I was in
Speaker 1: the team last year or the year before, because you
Speaker 1: kind of knew what was going to happen with those guys.
Speaker 1: But what is because this is a rebuild, but that
Speaker 1: what is the patience level of that fan base? I'm
Speaker 1: not sure it's high. What is a successful season in
Speaker 1: your eyes for Seattle taking into account that they are
Speaker 1: a much different team. We don't know how much longer
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll is going to hang around if it isn't
Speaker 1: um a positive shift very quickly, if not this year
Speaker 1: or next, For me, I look and say, if they
Speaker 1: go eight and eight, you'd have to say Seattle escaped
Speaker 1: total disaster and there's still room to grow. They still
Speaker 1: have some pieces. I don't not that's a success season
Speaker 1: with all the removal of pieces, and they still have
Speaker 1: stars here here and there on the roster, but I
Speaker 1: don't see them as a playoff team in this conference
Speaker 1: the way the conference is stacked right now. I think
Speaker 1: that's fair. Eight and Nate seems like it would be
Speaker 1: a decent season successful. And then if guys who are
Speaker 1: exciting to watch even the punt, they might have the
Speaker 1: most exciting punter in the league and Michael Dixon. So
Speaker 1: if guys like that emerged for the team to kind
Speaker 1: of like for the fans the Twelves to get behind
Speaker 1: and believe that the Twelves are already getting behind Michael Dixon.
Speaker 1: Michael Dixon. Yeah. On on the broadcast, the aforementioned broadcast,
Speaker 1: Me and Kimes is pumping up Michael Dixon as a
Speaker 1: potential Rookie of the Year candidate. What where does he
Speaker 1: get it in offense or defense? Chris Carson, David Moore,
Speaker 1: Like they've got some exciting guy. I think they can
Speaker 1: be a playoff team. This organization has been too great
Speaker 1: this decade to think anything less, at least in terms
Speaker 1: of that's what their goal is. Maybe not a great
Speaker 1: playoff team, but if you've got Russell Wilson and Pete
Speaker 1: Carroll and enough of these pieces, can you win ten games?
Speaker 1: I think you can, and if see if they're a
Speaker 1: playoff team, that's a very disappointing outcome for a couple
Speaker 1: of these teams. That they still have one of the
Speaker 1: best quarterbacks in the league, they have one of the
Speaker 1: best home field demanders in the league, they still have pieces.
Speaker 1: I know that they're They're not the same on defense anymore.
Speaker 1: And I know Earl Thomas is just floating out there.
Speaker 1: What's going on with Earl Thomas? Maybe he is playing
Speaker 1: with the team this year, but who knows. So would
Speaker 1: it shock me if they got to ten wins? Not
Speaker 1: at all? And if I can get them playoff. I
Speaker 1: think they're probably a nine win team though, and that
Speaker 1: probably is not enough in the end of probably not.
Speaker 1: The line. The offensive line, for what it's worth, played
Speaker 1: well in the preseason. They you know, it's a totally
Speaker 1: different scheme and the hope is getting rid of Cable
Speaker 1: makes them better. He like Russell Wilson's he sounded so
Speaker 1: surprised though after the third preseason game. He's like, I
Speaker 1: had all day back there. That was amazing, Like that's
Speaker 1: never happened before. It's only therese what it's worth. It
Speaker 1: could be worth nothing. We have no idea what it's worth.
Speaker 1: Bob Wiley or Tom Cable BROSI like Sports Real original. Next,
Speaker 1: all right, I got, you know, these teams assigned, and
Speaker 1: I tried to write down one thing for each one
Speaker 1: of these teams to talk about all sixteen. This was
Speaker 1: the hardest one to come up with one thing to
Speaker 1: talk about. I think that's where the Cardinals are at
Speaker 1: right now. They're a forgettable team. They've had more transition
Speaker 1: than just about anyone. They could be terrible and it
Speaker 1: wouldn't surprise me. They could be average and it wouldn't
Speaker 1: surprise me. But I think the one thing that was
Speaker 1: missed in the Bruce Arians era was defense. Was his
Speaker 1: sneaky uh way to to having a great career there
Speaker 1: as a coach. They were a top seven defense every
Speaker 1: year in Bruce Arians is run. So for all the
Speaker 1: attention that Bruce Arians got, the coordinators that he had
Speaker 1: on defense, and the production that they had, that's what
Speaker 1: kept them afloat. That's what had them winning eight games
Speaker 1: last year when really they had no business winning eight games,
Speaker 1: and they've had a ton of turnover the last two
Speaker 1: years on that defensive side, they've changed schemes really dramatically
Speaker 1: in terms of going from man and man is z
Speaker 1: own and then on offense probably from aggressive too very conservative.
Speaker 1: So with all of this change, I think it's fair
Speaker 1: that they go into this season with about as low
Speaker 1: expectations as maybe any team in the NFC. And that's
Speaker 1: that's not the worst place to be for a first
Speaker 1: year head coach, then the first year quarterback they are.
Speaker 1: To put that in perspective, they are replacing about of
Speaker 1: their carries and pass attempts from last year, which is
Speaker 1: the second most, I believe in the last twenty years
Speaker 1: according to Football Outsiders Almanac, behind the two thousand two
Speaker 1: Ravens defense. Yeah, the carries is a positive, and the
Speaker 1: defense has about as much turnover as any defense has
Speaker 1: had in a while. They're not big names beyond the
Speaker 1: Honey Badgers, but guys like Carlos Dansby and Frosty Rucker
Speaker 1: and Josh Morrow, all these guys were playing heavy snaps.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think getting David Johnson back is a
Speaker 1: godsend for whether it's Sam Bradford however long, or Josh Rosen.
Speaker 1: The thing that throughout the preseason concerned me because it
Speaker 1: was hard to get a gauge on. Josh Rosen did
Speaker 1: a lot of things really well, and you can see
Speaker 1: this guy is going to be a good quarterback, but
Speaker 1: the offensive line had him running for his life. This
Speaker 1: is a bad offensive line and you've got a quarterback
Speaker 1: that Sam Bradford is like a still a pillar back
Speaker 1: there if he's not protected, well, it's like he's a
Speaker 1: rock and someone you could build around more like Ken,
Speaker 1: like Carson Palmer and some of his earlier Cardinals runs
Speaker 1: where he was the opposite of most right, how quickly
Speaker 1: will Rosen be forced to go in there if this
Speaker 1: offensive line is entering the quarterback to take the positive outlook.
Speaker 1: If you're a Cardinals fan with Bradford, and I kind
Speaker 1: of hate when other people do this, but I will
Speaker 1: do this, is that in one game last year before
Speaker 1: the knee acted up, Bradford kind of played out of
Speaker 1: his mind. So maybe Sam Bradford could still sling it
Speaker 1: and maybe he does stay healthy, but with a bad
Speaker 1: offensive line, that's highly His best two seasons are his
Speaker 1: previous two seasons before that one game. So you know, Westling,
Speaker 1: you were talking him up. I think he's a good
Speaker 1: I think he's he could have if he was healthy,
Speaker 1: a decent second back half of his career, like Carson
Speaker 1: p This is those shot at anyone in particular. But
Speaker 1: when we rebuild this studio, we should have a monument
Speaker 1: to Sam Bradford's first game of the two thousand seventeen
Speaker 1: This is Colleen Wolf and I endorse that statement. Now
Speaker 1: move on San Francisco forty Niners. Chris Wesley Kyle Shanahan
Speaker 1: said after the season, you want people to feel good
Speaker 1: about a six and ten season, start oh and nine
Speaker 1: and as as great as we feel about this offense,
Speaker 1: they're close in December really masked how bad their defense is.
Speaker 1: What you're talking about a the transformation from a three
Speaker 1: four to a four three that just hasn't taken yet.
Speaker 1: It hasn't paid any dividends. And sometimes these transitions, depending
Speaker 1: on the personnel that's already on the roster, they go fluidly.
Speaker 1: Like Wade Phillips often has success. This one has gone poorly.
Speaker 1: Despite drafting defensive lineman three straight years in the first
Speaker 1: round two thousand, fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen Elvis Doomerville, who
Speaker 1: is now retired, lad this defense in sacks last year
Speaker 1: six point five, they don't get after the pastor despite
Speaker 1: all that talent on the defensive line, and they really
Speaker 1: struggle to guard outside wide receivers. You hope Richard Sherman
Speaker 1: helps that. But this defense, as high as we are
Speaker 1: on the forty Niners and Garoppolo and Kyle Shanahan, the
Speaker 1: defense could be among the worst in the NFC. Reminds
Speaker 1: me of Mike Shanahan just that for year after year
Speaker 1: he essentially had personnel control in Denver. He could never
Speaker 1: figure out a way to build a good defense for
Speaker 1: much of that Denver run. You know, you hope that's
Speaker 1: not what happens to KYLEA But right now you're right
Speaker 1: on paper it's a below average deep But I mean
Speaker 1: the thing is they have poured resources in as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: and you look at you look at just the names
Speaker 1: like Eric Armstead, DeForrest Buckner, Jakiski, Chrisky t Heart, I mean,
Speaker 1: Solomon Thomas. There's names here, but some did not mesh
Speaker 1: last year. And it puts a lot of pressure suddenly,
Speaker 1: because I think the one thing here is everyone at
Speaker 1: that six games would ended the season and gave them
Speaker 1: a great vibe, and they were the sexiest team of
Speaker 1: the off season. But now everyone's gonna be disappointed if
Speaker 1: Jimmy G doesn't roll out and knock out teams the
Speaker 1: same way over the first six weeks of this season.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't help in your defense is probably putting
Speaker 1: in a hole each week. I think they're gonna be
Speaker 1: similar to the Seahawks, where I think they'll be competitive.
Speaker 1: I think they maybe could sneak out nine wins, but
Speaker 1: for the reasons west Side, the defense isn't ready and
Speaker 1: the offense we're expecting it to them to take a
Speaker 1: huge leap. With Jimmy G. Kenneth thing is a little
Speaker 1: bit of a bummer too, like he has basically been
Speaker 1: taken out of the equation ramping up to the suite
Speaker 1: of the season. What will that mean for the offense
Speaker 1: out of the gate? I wonder if this is a
Speaker 1: team that potentially you can get off to a slow
Speaker 1: The personnel on paper doesn't look even that good. On offense,
Speaker 1: You're just kind of county on Kyle Shanahan to be incredible,
Speaker 1: and Jimmy Garoppolo at this point seems like a perfect
Speaker 1: human like he shouldn't play anymore. Have any quarterback ever
Speaker 1: like seemed more like limitless and perfect than Jimmy Garoppolo
Speaker 1: after last season, Like and three is pretty you're saying
Speaker 1: that the sunset. I don't know you. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: like he's had a hundred right now, like there's only
Speaker 1: going down. I just think it's a it's a it's
Speaker 1: a kind of a rough place to be if you're
Speaker 1: Jimmy g where everyone's expectations are so so sky high
Speaker 1: and it's it's literally do anything anything anybody on everything.
Speaker 1: Wowles was really living his best life on that one.
Speaker 1: I don't like the concept that I'm man splaining who
Speaker 1: can use best life? I will allow any of our
Speaker 1: producers to use it, just nobody else. But before we
Speaker 1: get probably, don't put me in that don't put me
Speaker 1: in that box. Don't put baby in a corner. Before
Speaker 1: we move to the NFC South, let's stay with the
Speaker 1: forty nine is a former forty nine Colin Kaepernick and
Speaker 1: arbitrator denied the NFL's request for a summary judgment and
Speaker 1: Kaepernick's collusion, complaining against the league, finding there is enough
Speaker 1: evidence to allow the case to go to trial. This
Speaker 1: broke on Thursday afternoon and was met with a big,
Speaker 1: big hubbub on social media. The football gagna Centi was
Speaker 1: super fired up about it, saying how the NFL was
Speaker 1: facing a worst case scenario wanting this to go away. Greg,
Speaker 1: you did a little search short for research, and you
Speaker 1: said that that's not that big a deal what happened yesterday. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know if i'd go that from my research
Speaker 1: is I'll let their listeners know that I read the
Speaker 1: Michael McCann article on si dot com. He's a legal
Speaker 1: expert who does a lot of this stuff, and after
Speaker 1: reading it, the repercussions of this decision are complex and vast,
Speaker 1: and I didn't fully understand them even after reading them.
Speaker 1: It could be an absolute worst case for for the NFL.
Speaker 1: The fact that it's even moving forward is bad news
Speaker 1: for the owners and could lead to a lot of things.
Speaker 1: But it's like, you don't he doesn't know, no one,
Speaker 1: no one is totally or it just says something that's
Speaker 1: like we have to watch it's not going away. I
Speaker 1: guess that's my take. Next time, let's get West on
Speaker 1: the reading assignment, because Gregg came out of it with
Speaker 1: very I think it's okay to read complicated topics and
Speaker 1: and say like, actually, we don't really understand this that well.
Speaker 1: But it's not a surprise. It's not going away. It's
Speaker 1: it's it sounds like it's gonna look like he has
Speaker 1: a he has a decent chance to win the case.
Speaker 1: But to me, that to me is it could have
Speaker 1: been stopped right there, right and it wasn't. So someone
Speaker 1: who knows the case better at all it's in depthness
Speaker 1: said no, this is not going away. It is continuing
Speaker 1: based on the evidence whatever. And in theory it could
Speaker 1: blow up the whole collective varting bargaining agreement. That seems
Speaker 1: like a real long shot. But the interesting thing is,
Speaker 1: in theory they could settle with Colin Kaepernick, and Colin
Speaker 1: Kaepernick does not seem like a man who is going
Speaker 1: to settle uh any at any point. Yolo, let's move
Speaker 1: on the Saints. Mark Seler, Well, this is this is
Speaker 1: uh maybe it points out the the exercise some of
Speaker 1: its strength and weaknesses. But I had a very similar
Speaker 1: question to what to what Dan had about the Rams,
Speaker 1: because I I pitched the Saints as a team of
Speaker 1: at L and the more I thought about it, you
Speaker 1: might be right that it's not a fun, fun team
Speaker 1: because they might be too good the head coach. I
Speaker 1: like Sean Payton. Actually see I talked to Sean Payton
Speaker 1: at the combine and told him you were just gonna
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl and he's like, oh, thanks man,
Speaker 1: and then he just kept walking. But it was like,
Speaker 1: all right, that kind of linked me with the Saints
Speaker 1: in a very vague, non real way. But anyways, my
Speaker 1: point would be this, It is similar to the Rams
Speaker 1: because I look at the Saints as a super complete
Speaker 1: team and that's not like there were years when it
Speaker 1: was so we love the offense, but the defense is
Speaker 1: going to shipwrecked this team. Year after years they have
Speaker 1: to score thirty five points again. They got pieces on
Speaker 1: defense now. So it's a similar to the question of
Speaker 1: the Rams. When it comes to the Achilles hell, where
Speaker 1: do you look at the Saints and say, in a
Speaker 1: rugged NFC you're going down because of this reason front
Speaker 1: seven I I maybe it's didn't we come off last,
Speaker 1: Maybe it's muscle memory, But I'm not that like they
Speaker 1: have six different starting middle linebackers that they're just putting
Speaker 1: that different positions. They have Cameron Jordan's but the rest
Speaker 1: of the defensive line, I think it's fair to at
Speaker 1: least question, uh. And and they were better on defense,
Speaker 1: but they were relying on turnovers. I don't it's not
Speaker 1: like they're a difference maker. Maybe it's just seeing them
Speaker 1: year after year, I don't quite trust them to how
Speaker 1: about how about last year was such a different offense
Speaker 1: for them and an incredible year for the backfield where
Speaker 1: you got three thousand yards between Kamara and Ingram And
Speaker 1: now Ingram suspended and Kamara maybe he'll be able to
Speaker 1: pick up the slack and be just as good as
Speaker 1: he was as a rookie. But also the same thing
Speaker 1: with the Rams. Are they gonna be able to average
Speaker 1: thirty points game? Maybe? But maybe not? Uh? Can you
Speaker 1: really expect that same level of production? And then at
Speaker 1: the quarterback, I don't. I'm out of this game because
Speaker 1: when it comes to quarterbacks and how long they play.
Speaker 1: But like, he's another year older Drew Brees, and I
Speaker 1: know he played well last year, but it's fair to
Speaker 1: wonder if the burden has increased on the forty year
Speaker 1: old quarterback, could he handle it? Is he Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: or is he Tom Brady. I think Mark's original question
Speaker 1: speaks to Marcus Davenport as one of the most crucial
Speaker 1: rookies in the NFL this year that you gave up
Speaker 1: next year's first round pick because you saw this guy
Speaker 1: is the missing link to your to your super Bowl
Speaker 1: title hopes. And if this front seven is gonna work,
Speaker 1: they're gonna need that outside edge rusher. Cameron Jordan's bringing
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure from the front, but they need
Speaker 1: that outside got to crash the pocket. The one thing
Speaker 1: on the Ingram four game band. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's always the worst thing in the planet for a
Speaker 1: team to come back in week five totally fresh. It
Speaker 1: was great for Tom Brady. I always thought it was
Speaker 1: like one of the underrated parts of that entire season.
Speaker 1: They might find a guy like Jonathan Williams can play
Speaker 1: in his absence. Old for being maybe the most exciting
Speaker 1: offensive player to edge. It's kind of we haven't really
Speaker 1: talked about him that. I'm excited to see year two
Speaker 1: one done. Quick aside before we move on. They disdain us.
Speaker 1: They absolutely fans of our podcast, um one quick Aside.
Speaker 1: Uh my good buddy Bob who works in Tinseltown Costrow
Speaker 1: Entertainment business working on a show that comprises some type
Speaker 1: of reality dating component based in Vegas. Bob reached out
Speaker 1: to me about whether spice Rack would be interested in
Speaker 1: being on a reality dating show. I would pay to
Speaker 1: watch that. That would be good. I reached out to
Speaker 1: spice Rack and was absolutely stunned to learn that the
Speaker 1: man has been dating a woman and living with a
Speaker 1: woman for four years. What so he declined it. He declined.
Speaker 1: The opportunity for spice Rack is shocked up. I think
Speaker 1: ladies hands off the we had a girlfriend because spice
Speaker 1: Rack and I have been quietly helping. I've taken it
Speaker 1: back a weird friend and I did know we had
Speaker 1: a girlfriend. Emma, no more d ms, spice you got
Speaker 1: the mark. One question of when it comes to Bob
Speaker 1: in Tinseltown, does he have a twitter burner account like
Speaker 1: Erica does where she calls herself Ricky Hollywood. She probably
Speaker 1: should move away from that. All right, let's get back
Speaker 1: into it. The Carolina Panthers Chris Wesley. The Panthers have
Speaker 1: some luck factors going against him this this year. They
Speaker 1: were eight and one in close games last year and
Speaker 1: they had ridiculous fumble luck. Usually analytics tell us that
Speaker 1: evens out if you were yeah, well, yeah, deep deep
Speaker 1: search tells us I don't like this term at all,
Speaker 1: that that that won't happen. You can't count on that.
Speaker 1: So they're already behind that. They went twenty they've been
Speaker 1: twenty five and two since Cam got there when he
Speaker 1: has passer rating. Their two losses, according to Football Outsiders,
Speaker 1: were last year, both to the Saints. They finished this
Speaker 1: season New Orleans, Atlanta at New Orleans in December. To me,
Speaker 1: the pain it there's can't be expected to repeat last
Speaker 1: year's playoff run because of those factors working against them,
Speaker 1: the end of the schedule and the luck factor, the
Speaker 1: randomness factor which will probably work against him this Hue
Speaker 1: Mark and I were talking downstairs. It's almost like one
Speaker 1: of those three and a f C NFC South teams
Speaker 1: has to fall hard. They can't stay all at that level. Logically,
Speaker 1: the Panthers have the have the best case for being
Speaker 1: that team that that does fall off. I agree with you.
Speaker 1: It's it's easy right now to just kind of shovel
Speaker 1: teams into the wild card spot and say we're gonna
Speaker 1: get another three from the South, and its history tells
Speaker 1: us that will get completely blown up and not be
Speaker 1: the case. And this isn't the Panthers defense of a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. It's it's not the same unit.
Speaker 1: But I do still see them as a team that
Speaker 1: could probably beat almost anyone in a given week with
Speaker 1: some of their some of the skill position players. I
Speaker 1: think their skill position talent is way better, and their
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator should be better. I like the idea, don't
Speaker 1: care about I just like the idea of given Cam
Speaker 1: Newton a new shot. Shack Thompson was one guy that
Speaker 1: really kind of jumped off the screen in the preseason
Speaker 1: who had never really had that breakout. He's replacing Thomas
Speaker 1: Davis for four games on the field every snap, and
Speaker 1: like just the way they're talking about him, the way
Speaker 1: he looked, it looked like he might be kind of
Speaker 1: ready to take that spot. Can you play left tackle?
Speaker 1: Because the offensive line is a big problem right now.
Speaker 1: Cam Newton with North Turner probably not a U completion decentage.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe norv does does find something new with and
Speaker 1: and and there's somewhere some way to improve his game
Speaker 1: that the previous coordinator that was there forever didn't think
Speaker 1: to look under a certain rock. And then Christian McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, he looks great in the place.
Speaker 1: What if Christian McCaffrey becomes one of the top three
Speaker 1: running backs in the NFC, and then Cam Newton gets
Speaker 1: better under Norv Turner, as you know in a Jim
Speaker 1: Bob Cooter d J. Moore. I think that's a big
Speaker 1: add to this. I wouldn't assume they're the team that's
Speaker 1: gonna if Cam misses two games because he goes head
Speaker 1: first into like a pile, and you know they're starting
Speaker 1: Taylor Heineke and then the season. I'm not saying Norm
Speaker 1: is doomed to failure, but the last three teams that
Speaker 1: got rid of him getting better, including last year's Viking,
Speaker 1: You're deaf my favorite. But that was good alright. The
Speaker 1: Falcons per Football Outsiders, Falcons dropped from first to ninth
Speaker 1: and offensive d v o A last season, second in
Speaker 1: yards per drive, seventh and points per drive, which is good.
Speaker 1: Those are very good numbers. Uh They had the fewest
Speaker 1: possessions in the league, which is weird and probably not repeatable.
Speaker 1: Uh So you've got to think about that and how
Speaker 1: they can improve. It helps to explain why they're scoring
Speaker 1: average drops so much. But that wasn't the biggest issue.
Speaker 1: The biggest issue was how terrible they were in the
Speaker 1: red zone. They ranked nineteen in red zone passing d
Speaker 1: v o AI and red zone running d v o AYE,
Speaker 1: and total red zone. They were one of the worst
Speaker 1: teams in football in the red zone. Inexcusable and that
Speaker 1: goes back to coaching, and that takes us to offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator Steve Sarkasian. Um it is fitting that their defense
Speaker 1: their offense failed for straight plays to end their season
Speaker 1: against the Eagles, and I think what this season is
Speaker 1: about given their talent level. Uh, Sarkasian's not gonna be
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan, but he has to improve his scheme to
Speaker 1: maximize what's an embarrassment of Richard Riches in Atlanta. My
Speaker 1: question will Stark learn from his failures or will the
Speaker 1: Falcons rue their decision to give their embattled o s
Speaker 1: another bite at the apple. I would point to the
Speaker 1: first year under Kyl Shanahan, where they were not what
Speaker 1: we remember Under Kyl Shanahan. They they had their issues
Speaker 1: and Matt Ryan, who spent most of his career in
Speaker 1: the same offense over and over, that was a period
Speaker 1: of adjustment. Now the shift to Sarkasian's offense was not
Speaker 1: as drastic on any level, used a lot of the
Speaker 1: same stuff. I think they're gonna be okay. I think
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball, they have a lot
Speaker 1: of team speed and those red zone numbers by definition
Speaker 1: will probably go up. I think adding Calvin Ridley to
Speaker 1: the mixed wide receiver, you've got a diverse backfield. I
Speaker 1: don't know what's not to like about this offense. I
Speaker 1: think Hooper is gonna have a huge year at tight
Speaker 1: end as well. That's not the it's not the skill,
Speaker 1: the skill talent, the talent level, and adding Ridley should help.
Speaker 1: You never know what the rookie wide receiver. But like,
Speaker 1: is sarkas and the guy or is he gonna hold
Speaker 1: this team back because he held them back last year?
Speaker 1: But that's execution two on the in the red zone.
Speaker 1: It's not just on the coach. But I would say
Speaker 1: they're probably will get better under him versus just worse.
Speaker 1: You gotta have a better option, and they apparently didn't
Speaker 1: think that that there was one out there. There an
Speaker 1: interesting case for like continuity because other than Ridley, this
Speaker 1: is just the same team. This has been basically the
Speaker 1: same team and I think that's great. I like seeing
Speaker 1: that occasionally in the NFL, like this is this should
Speaker 1: be a year and one of their guys that's been there.
Speaker 1: Vic Beasley to me is the X factor because he
Speaker 1: went from a defensive m VP candidate to a liability.
Speaker 1: So what is he going to be this year? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think when we look at their roster, we always
Speaker 1: point the sark because where are the weaknesses? And Vic
Speaker 1: Beasley is won. He went from being a guy going
Speaker 1: for the SEC leadership to a guy who disappeared last year.
Speaker 1: And also, special teams have to be better. They were
Speaker 1: not good on special teams last year and they have
Speaker 1: one of the toughest schedules in the league this year,
Speaker 1: so those are more problems for the They're so drama three,
Speaker 1: like they almost had no position battles. They just like
Speaker 1: showed up. They kind of know what their team, which
Speaker 1: is boring until you're twelve and four four three final?
Speaker 1: Where goes to Mark there? Yeah? Mark, you're really gonna
Speaker 1: have to pick up the pace here. That's probably not
Speaker 1: done true the Tampa Bay Schnucks Greg Rosenthal, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get excited to watch this Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense when
Speaker 1: Jamis Winston comes back. But the takeaway from me coming
Speaker 1: out of training camp was that Ronald Jones is probably
Speaker 1: not going to be the guy to put them over
Speaker 1: the top during his rookie season at running back with
Speaker 1: we haven't talked about him really, but basically, he's struggled
Speaker 1: so much. He hadn't gained yards, He's struggled in the
Speaker 1: passing game. The coaches don't seem in love with him.
Speaker 1: That he's probably gonna start the year behind Peyton Barber
Speaker 1: and Quiz Rodgers, and so he's not really in the mix,
Speaker 1: and they were hoping that would give them a little
Speaker 1: extra juice, a little more balanced because I think this
Speaker 1: could be one of the most highest yardage passing teams
Speaker 1: in the league. They were really pretty good last year
Speaker 1: on offense. If the defense had just been even average,
Speaker 1: I think they have enough on offense at least to
Speaker 1: get it done. But Ronald Jones isn't gonna be helping
Speaker 1: them out. He was beloved by draft Knicks too, so
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just another reminder, no matter what you
Speaker 1: do in college, you don't know most of these guys
Speaker 1: until they take the field in the NFL and I'm
Speaker 1: not saying he's gonna have a bad career, but you're
Speaker 1: certainly not expecting a big September and October out of this.
Speaker 1: It's also funny because people say, oh, you can find
Speaker 1: running backs anywhere, don't take him too high, and they
Speaker 1: took him at the end of the second with their
Speaker 1: third second round pick, I believe, or at the top
Speaker 1: of the second. Rather, it's like, no, you can't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can find them anywhere, but plenty of them don't
Speaker 1: turn out to be that good. You have to it's
Speaker 1: hard to find. This is the team that I spent
Speaker 1: most of the offseason just ticketing for like a two
Speaker 1: and fourteen campaign and not to pull too much from
Speaker 1: the prese like that is getting getting tired of saying that. Anyways,
Speaker 1: the preseason is what it is. Have a nice time
Speaker 1: with yourselves. But like they rolled over the Lions. They
Speaker 1: decimated the Lions with their starting offense a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. No, but it just it made me think,
Speaker 1: like you think a certain way about a team for
Speaker 1: months and months, and every time you discussed the Bucks,
Speaker 1: it's an epic disaster. The coaches can be gone by Halloween.
Speaker 1: I don't know I mean the offense to me, has
Speaker 1: a lot of parts, so a lot of the same parts.
Speaker 1: The reason that we felt for them last offseason, they
Speaker 1: are there and they actually produced on offense. They trashed
Speaker 1: the Saints defense in Week seventeen in the game the
Speaker 1: Saints desperately wanted and that's almost like Sam Bradford game
Speaker 1: at this point, and we haven't mentioned even the defense.
Speaker 1: Jason Pierre Paul Jason Pierre Paus reportedly had a great
Speaker 1: preseason and they did bulk up on the defensive line.
Speaker 1: They should be better upfront. Maybe because last year this
Speaker 1: time everyone was taking the bucks. Is the next team
Speaker 1: to rise in the NFC? Now people have gone maybe
Speaker 1: too far the other way. Maybe they're not as bad
Speaker 1: as everyone is, just taking the big and they'll be
Speaker 1: again a tough, very tough NFC. I don't think they're
Speaker 1: gonna be necessarily fighting for that division or a playoff spot.
Speaker 1: But could they be competitive and win around eight games,
Speaker 1: I would not think that would be insane. I feel
Speaker 1: like every team in the NFC is about to go
Speaker 1: eleven and five. Someone they need to get a win.
Speaker 1: They could really use a win in the Ryan Fitzpatrick games,
Speaker 1: which are really tough because if you start, oh in three,
Speaker 1: it's like your season's over. They really need to get
Speaker 1: what is that schedule out of the time for them. Saints, Eagles, Steelers,
Speaker 1: Bears are not going to be in many games the Bucks,
Speaker 1: am I right next? So Eric not compelled with the
Speaker 1: evidence we provided about a potential middle of the road season.
Speaker 1: All right, we pause. It's halftime, folks. Everybody get your gatorade,
Speaker 1: drink your eat your orange slices, check your phones. Mark
Speaker 1: break out that Lacroix get do not do that? I
Speaker 1: had some lemon Lacroix, I gotta say, since we're here,
Speaker 1: since Greg brought it up um and doesn't have the
Speaker 1: same tang and bite that lime Lacroix does. Still a
Speaker 1: big leader in the club, a fan in general. And
Speaker 1: Mark pez Evento, who's a big time shadowy league figure.
Speaker 1: Uh here at the NFL. He introduced me to Bubbly,
Speaker 1: a new product that has a cherry flavor, which is
Speaker 1: no it's also sparkling water. Really nice kick to it,
Speaker 1: and I might be ready to leave Lacroix for Bubbly,
Speaker 1: but I don't want to make the announcement yet. Well,
Speaker 1: typically whenever when these probably should be giving us money
Speaker 1: or at least some bubbly comes out of your tap.
Speaker 1: Just drink it. When these campaigns are unfurled, it comes
Speaker 1: out of the whale bubbles in my sentence out dan
Speaker 1: Is typically Typically all this comes down to is Dan
Speaker 1: Is on a sneaky long range plot to get boxes
Speaker 1: of Lacroix sent. It's always product that needs to be
Speaker 1: sent by this phantom straw man company that he's pitching
Speaker 1: with McRoy or hair gel. He got a box of
Speaker 1: hair gelve of them with anyone, just took it right
Speaker 1: home to it. Think it could work? Why are you?
Speaker 1: Why are you down on it? That is not my goal.
Speaker 1: But when people absolutely you know why because I speak
Speaker 1: passionately about the products that I love and these people
Speaker 1: pick up on it. And that's why I get these
Speaker 1: things said to me. This is not I'm speaking from
Speaker 1: the heart. Bro Well, you could care less about Lacroix
Speaker 1: twelve days ago and now it's it's I just didn't
Speaker 1: speak on it until the other day. By the way,
Speaker 1: because we're creeping up to that sick that's right. To
Speaker 1: help Greg out here, all right, here we go, Mark,
Speaker 1: it's time for you to ban some more words. I
Speaker 1: am going to ban words and the only people that
Speaker 1: are allowed to say these words are Emma VP and
Speaker 1: Erica because they are completely uncontrollable and I'm not going
Speaker 1: to attempt to settle it rain them in on any level.
Speaker 1: These are too too phrases. Number one, these are these
Speaker 1: are things you'll see in print. Often on Twitter in
Speaker 1: response to a story, there's typically retweeting something that's that's
Speaker 1: going viral or what is what is you call something
Speaker 1: that's not totally viral, Emma Minivia, it's going mini via potentially.
Speaker 1: But the first thing, when it's a touchy 's really
Speaker 1: touching type thing involving often a child, you'll get all
Speaker 1: these people retweeting and sane, I'm not crying, you're crying. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's I don't care where it came from. I don't
Speaker 1: need to see that on Twitter every time something happen,
Speaker 1: because here's the thing. It's it's it's like above a thing,
Speaker 1: and it's not that it's one person, come that, it's
Speaker 1: eighty eight people in a row. I'm not crying, you're crying.
Speaker 1: And then this is often attached to what absolutely needs
Speaker 1: to go and be deep six and I don't even
Speaker 1: think that Emma would want to say this. Typically she's
Speaker 1: too creative. All the fields? What get rid of that?
Speaker 1: Right now? All the fields? All the fields is a response.
Speaker 1: We've seen all the fields when a heartwarming all the field,
Speaker 1: every feeling in the spectrum of emotions are currently system. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this isn't gonna be like a tough ask for any
Speaker 1: of us to get rid of. But but you're saying, society,
Speaker 1: I don't need it. I don't need it, I don't
Speaker 1: need writing all the fields anyway, Thank you, thank you West,
Speaker 1: thank you for that you're compiling what essentially is a
Speaker 1: band dictionary. Not every one of these are maybe grand
Speaker 1: slams out of the park that the band dictionary. This
Speaker 1: is like nineteen twenties Russia or something. My my one
Speaker 1: takeaway from this exercise that you've had for about a
Speaker 1: week now, is it you're basically asking for originality from people. Yes,
Speaker 1: or that you shaid quit you know, quit you know,
Speaker 1: flirting with it and just quit Twitter well, or or
Speaker 1: we should have a better monitor. It's like, I understand
Speaker 1: All the Fields was funny for like a week. Maybe
Speaker 1: I'm just saying to me, but to some but it's
Speaker 1: like like or a year two of this still being
Speaker 1: thrown about, and it's a tired jargon. When it becomes tired,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't funny to begin with. You have got
Speaker 1: to have the self control not to lean on that phrase. Please,
Speaker 1: MV has the only non old here. What what is
Speaker 1: your take? Both super lam would never say broadcast is
Speaker 1: not endorsed. Thank thank you. There we're on the same
Speaker 1: page now we feel I feel better about myself now
Speaker 1: that Emma has okay suddenly, like a short order cook
Speaker 1: in the South there, I like that. And on the
Speaker 1: subject of things that should be banned, Roberto Oguayo to
Speaker 1: win it on the last play six yards. He does,
Speaker 1: so the Chargers take the last preseason game. On the
Speaker 1: final check, Roberto Oguio puts it through and the Chargers
Speaker 1: win the game. Twenty three banned that man from broadcasting.
Speaker 1: Do you under stand the importance in robbi Oguya's life
Speaker 1: to hit a game ending field goal? I don't care
Speaker 1: if it's the fourth preseason gamesouncer, it doesn't matter who
Speaker 1: it is. You have to understand the stakes of what
Speaker 1: Roberto Oguayo has been through since being the second round
Speaker 1: pick of the Bucks the way he's floundered, the challenges
Speaker 1: that he's been uh met with, and what he's overcome
Speaker 1: to being now on a dead heat with Caleb Sturgis
Speaker 1: for the for the Kicker Crown for the Chargers, and
Speaker 1: and just wait watch the Chargers make the wrong decision
Speaker 1: and and keep Aguayo and then Guya kills him. But
Speaker 1: that's for later. For this moment right now, he deserved
Speaker 1: a really spirited call and he got banged in a
Speaker 1: big How about could you give us just a quick
Speaker 1: glimpse into how you might have called um that final
Speaker 1: moment in the game. I'd be screaming my balls off, Sessler.
Speaker 1: I think it makes sense. I agree with you, And
Speaker 1: yet on some level it does make sense. For the
Speaker 1: lowest energy possible call would be to be the road
Speaker 1: announcer on a game winning field goal for the other
Speaker 1: team in the fourth week of the prese. Just that's
Speaker 1: lower entergy. It's not asking for much here. I agree
Speaker 1: with Dan. I do Roberto can rise to the occasion
Speaker 1: the least you know what it says to me. Somebody
Speaker 1: didn't do their search. By the way, that has to
Speaker 1: be apostrophe search. We're not just starting with s right.
Speaker 1: The way is nearly over. Football is almost here, which
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Speaker 1: on copy, it's gotta be at us. We move on.
Speaker 1: Second half begins with the old ZUSA in the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: The Vikings are the defending division champions. Oh isn't that nice?
Speaker 1: And uh, they've upgraded their quarterback situation. They have Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: Of course, they're absolutely loaded on defense. What what a unit?
Speaker 1: They have several elite playmakers on offense or getting back
Speaker 1: the kid in the backfield, Dalvin Cook. So why can't
Speaker 1: I shake this feeling that this team, in this fan
Speaker 1: base is like so many of those birds outside US
Speaker 1: Bank Stadium, soaring, confident, free and then splat? Hm? Why
Speaker 1: do I have a terrible feeling about the two thousand
Speaker 1: eighteen Vikings? And maybe there's no way to quant a
Speaker 1: by that or explain why I feel that way? Does
Speaker 1: anybody else just have a bad billion this loaded NFC
Speaker 1: that the Viking somehow will be the team I share exactly,
Speaker 1: just because I just felt like I didn't want to
Speaker 1: pencil in like the five great looking teams all back
Speaker 1: to the playoffs and with no real reason beside that
Speaker 1: the offensive line is banged up. Didn't look great maybe
Speaker 1: to begin with, and Kirk Cousins behind a bad offensive
Speaker 1: line doesn't get me excited. They were the team I
Speaker 1: picked to be on the outside looking in. Now that
Speaker 1: might be at nine and seven missed the playoffs, or
Speaker 1: at ten and six, but that that was what I'm
Speaker 1: picking is them not to make them what they have
Speaker 1: on paper, especially when you look at the defensive roster,
Speaker 1: that would be an epic collapse for them not to
Speaker 1: make it. But sometimes the issues are internal or their external,
Speaker 1: and for me, there's a couple external A. It's the
Speaker 1: rest of the NFC, which gets you know, we've been
Speaker 1: talking about that the whole show. But you got Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers back in Green Bay. You're not going to sail
Speaker 1: through that division the way you did last year. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think Chicago and Detroit, at least Chicago's seems like
Speaker 1: they could put up a little bit more of a
Speaker 1: fight like it's it. Last year everything sort of went
Speaker 1: right for the Vikings. Instead of with the fact that
Speaker 1: here's where I liked them. It didn't out of the gate.
Speaker 1: They had quarterback chaos, the had to deal with a
Speaker 1: lot of quarterback turnover. They lost Dalvin Cook. You're getting
Speaker 1: him back, so you can make an argument that they're
Speaker 1: even strong or even more stars studded on on offense.
Speaker 1: So for them to go nine and seven and be
Speaker 1: left on the outside, that would be one of the
Speaker 1: biggest collapses we've seen any team in years. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: can't get on board with the negativity here. The one
Speaker 1: thing I think that separates the Vikings from all the
Speaker 1: other NFC contenders is that every single meaningful player is
Speaker 1: in the prime of his career. Who's who's toeing the
Speaker 1: cliff here, who's on the verge of retirement, who's an
Speaker 1: injury risk because he's over thirty? Everyone is in like
Speaker 1: that twenty four where that you know they lost the
Speaker 1: guard for the season, one of their starters, pad outfly
Speaker 1: in the center has been hurt. But you're right that
Speaker 1: the continuity, the fact that the defense, no, they all
Speaker 1: know that system so well. Mike us their first round
Speaker 1: pick might kind of buck the trend and be a
Speaker 1: rookie starter on that team as a slot guy. But
Speaker 1: I view that as a positive that he obviously looks
Speaker 1: great to to play so quickly for a defense this good.
Speaker 1: You're right, they're all in their prime. It should be good,
Speaker 1: Dan quick any of your concerns about Kirk Cousins specific
Speaker 1: ensive line paid a ton of money, A little bit
Speaker 1: a little bit. Now that was a banger. I think
Speaker 1: that was one of our better ones. The Detroit Lions.
Speaker 1: The expectation when Matt Patricia goes to the Lions is
Speaker 1: that this is defensive coach. You know you're gonna be
Speaker 1: a defensive team and build your team that way. But
Speaker 1: I look at this roster and it reminds me a
Speaker 1: lot of the Patriots under Matt Patricia, which was a
Speaker 1: highly uh capable quarterback, continuity and a high scoring offense
Speaker 1: and a defense with a ton of questions. I think
Speaker 1: if they're gonna win, they're gonna have to be a
Speaker 1: team that wins the D to five every week. You know,
Speaker 1: they don't have a great looking pass rush on paper.
Speaker 1: Some of their recent draft picks Jared Davis, their first
Speaker 1: round pick from a year ago, I think has been
Speaker 1: a little concerning in the preseason and even last year,
Speaker 1: like they don't really have that benchmark. And then you
Speaker 1: look on the other side of the ball and everyone's
Speaker 1: been around for a while, and then the backfield with
Speaker 1: Blunt and carry on, Johnson and theoretic I love that backfield,
Speaker 1: Like I'm with West that if nothing else, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a fun team to watch. I think when they're
Speaker 1: playing the Vikings, the Packers like, that's a game that's
Speaker 1: gonna be in the thirties. They're gonna give the Vikings
Speaker 1: defense all they can handle. But I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's a recipe to go that far in this conference. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I have a good feeling about the Lions,
Speaker 1: but in this division, in this conference there they don't
Speaker 1: have much margin for air. Like you said, their defense,
Speaker 1: that front seven worries me. I think the secondary might
Speaker 1: be the most underrated in the NFL because Loeb Quinn
Speaker 1: is the most underrated player in the NFL. But who
Speaker 1: was starting opposite Darius Slay. They kind of had the
Speaker 1: same year after year and they were hoping to maybe
Speaker 1: replace him. He Tavers struggled in the preseason. They've had
Speaker 1: some injuries there. It just they've kind of had the
Speaker 1: same issues year after year on that side. Do we
Speaker 1: take anything from the last two games they put on tape?
Speaker 1: I mean again, we talked about the Bucks preseas ripping
Speaker 1: them up, and then last night's game like, sorry, I
Speaker 1: don't actually I don't care. The individual players like Jared Davis,
Speaker 1: the reporters saying he struggled a little bit in practice
Speaker 1: and then he struggled in the preseae that I worry about,
Speaker 1: but not necessarily. There were some starters on the field
Speaker 1: last night on their defense when they got absolutely bombed
Speaker 1: by Cleveland. It was I've never seen a Browns game
Speaker 1: like that. Again, it's preseason that sa I would check
Speaker 1: it out. Like Patricia looks looks to guild on the
Speaker 1: sideline over the last three weeks, he looks steamed. Kenny Golladay,
Speaker 1: a guy ticketed for maybe big things this year. Uh,
Speaker 1: you have Golden Tate, who's a steady guy that doesn't
Speaker 1: get a ton of love but always produces. And Marvin Jones,
Speaker 1: who has really been a nice player for them. That's
Speaker 1: pretty good triplet. Yes, is that one of the better triplets?
Speaker 1: Ifaday is who we think is, it's up there. They
Speaker 1: don't have the true like dominant number one, the very
Speaker 1: best of them. It's up there. The Detroit Lions brought
Speaker 1: to you by some l A bozos. Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: Chris Wesley. Over the past half decade, there have been
Speaker 1: two different Packers teams. There have been the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers and the Clavical Packers. The Green Bay Packers fell
Speaker 1: because because of the clavical injury, they missed a chance
Speaker 1: to become the first team to tie the record for
Speaker 1: most consecutive playoff appearances with nine. They are five twelve
Speaker 1: and one during Aaron Rodgers absences. This is compared, let's say,
Speaker 1: to the Vikings, who won the division with a backup
Speaker 1: quarterback last year. The Cardinals went five and four with
Speaker 1: Blaine Gabbert and Drew Stanton down the stretch. Other teams
Speaker 1: can survive their backup quarterbacks. But I think this speaks
Speaker 1: to how good Rogers is, how far that wide receiver
Speaker 1: corps has fallen apart when it used to be the
Speaker 1: best in the league, and how bad the defense has been.
Speaker 1: This is not a strong roster. Aaron Rodgers hides a
Speaker 1: lot of problems. UM, mark your boy, Michael Lombardi, UH
Speaker 1: put a report out there or set it on his
Speaker 1: podcast that everyone in the league knows that Randall Cobb
Speaker 1: is out on trade baite he could be potentially cut
Speaker 1: uh this weekend. Uh. That's a pretty precipitous fall by
Speaker 1: a Cobb, and it does highlight kind of what West
Speaker 1: is saying that they don't have the depth that they
Speaker 1: used to have. Well, is what he's He's got a
Speaker 1: high contracts, I think it's almost nine million, and he's
Speaker 1: got lingering concerning ankle issues. So I don't I don't
Speaker 1: know it's gonna be trading for him. But this may
Speaker 1: be a Packers team that has to ask Mike Petton's
Speaker 1: defense to do a little bit more than what these
Speaker 1: past defenses have done. And they do have new faces
Speaker 1: on defense. There's a lot to talk about with the
Speaker 1: cornerback position, Jar Alexander, Josh Jackson, Greg's boy, Kenny Clark,
Speaker 1: he was texting about him the other day. He likes
Speaker 1: him up to middlely got Moe Wilkerson, and I think
Speaker 1: that Mike, well, I'm just saying Mike Petton, Well, maybe
Speaker 1: Bill Wilkerson is a one year deal, but Mike Petton
Speaker 1: has more pieces to work with than Dom Capers did,
Speaker 1: and I think the removal of Dom Capers has had
Speaker 1: a nice positive change for the Packers in general. Well,
Speaker 1: and that coach and you had right, you have hope
Speaker 1: that Kevin King who was last year's second round pick,
Speaker 1: and then Alexander and Jackson who both looked really good
Speaker 1: in the preseason. You kind of figure that Mike Patton
Speaker 1: is going to do well with those guys, and then Wilkerson,
Speaker 1: Clark and Mike Daniels. That is a great defensive line.
Speaker 1: We'll see what Wilkerson adds for what it's worth. Mike
Speaker 1: Daniels said, you know, Wilkerson was saying it was the
Speaker 1: best offseason of his life. He's all motivated to, you know,
Speaker 1: prove everyone wrong. We'll see if Jackson and Alexander do
Speaker 1: play a lot in that secondary, they'll probably have the
Speaker 1: youngest secondary in the NFL, and they can take solos
Speaker 1: in the fact that the Saints had the youngest secondary
Speaker 1: in the NFL last year and turned that defense around.
Speaker 1: I think Alexander's there starting, Nicol King, who's the second year,
Speaker 1: is probably starting cornerback. I mean, I think it's a
Speaker 1: good rafter West. Maybe they have some homes the secondary.
Speaker 1: You have all pro left tackle. You think it's a
Speaker 1: good roster. But you're also county on Mo. Wilkerson, who
Speaker 1: was the subject of a Brian Baldinger scathing tweak for
Speaker 1: his effort level, looked awful in the preseason year ticket
Speaker 1: them for the playoffs. I don't know about this year too.
Speaker 1: I think they're a Super Bowl I'm gonna order a
Speaker 1: pizza you guys in the Chicago Bears Mark Sessler. So
Speaker 1: from like an optics standpoint, I can't help. And I
Speaker 1: understand we all hate the preseason, but this, this last
Speaker 1: four weeks, like the whole thing. I feel like Mitch Robisky. No, No,
Speaker 1: I just think that. Am I wrong? Quiet August? And
Speaker 1: I get that Matt Negi is keeping the playbook under
Speaker 1: wraps and we're not going to see anything. But I
Speaker 1: asked a question for you, if you were building a
Speaker 1: team today, would you take Mitch Robinsky and what you
Speaker 1: know about him over a season and one month over
Speaker 1: any of the five rookie quarterbacks to win in the
Speaker 1: first round. No, I'm just asking where we are with
Speaker 1: Mitch Robisky, but we don't know yet, right Who do
Speaker 1: you take him over Lamar Jackson? Easily? So let's remove
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson from the let's see the other for learning
Speaker 1: from the Jared Goffs situation, I really am giving Mitch
Speaker 1: Drobisky a bit of a rookie year pass. So I
Speaker 1: don't know, No, you wouldn't, I wouldn't. I mean, I
Speaker 1: just feel like this guy still deserves this season to
Speaker 1: show what he can do with an actual offensive mind,
Speaker 1: minding the controls behind him and better, better weapons around him.
Speaker 1: I think he gets that. Okay, so let me It's
Speaker 1: not just to destroy Mitch Drobisky, but I'm asking it
Speaker 1: more from you. Have a seasons of worth of work
Speaker 1: of what you've seen from Mitch Robisky. We've seen what
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield can do in a short sample size. Sam Donald,
Speaker 1: we love Josh Rosen, Like, would you honestly take Trabisky
Speaker 1: over all those players? I don't like the question, Like,
Speaker 1: we don't have enough data to make an informed opinion. Tribisky,
Speaker 1: you can throw everything that happened last year and that
Speaker 1: John Fox team totally different. They had a horrible wide
Speaker 1: receiver corps, Like I don't. I don't think you can
Speaker 1: take anything from last year or the preseason. We just
Speaker 1: have to wait. My concern, though, is it's gonna take
Speaker 1: time for this to come together. People just like slot
Speaker 1: In Taylor Gabriel as a plus starter, Like, Okay, of
Speaker 1: course he's gonna do that. He's been hurt. He's about
Speaker 1: as lightweight and outside starter as in the league. He
Speaker 1: had three seventy eight yards last year. Let's not assume
Speaker 1: he's gonna be great. Alan Robinson really didn't show much
Speaker 1: in the preseason. Is he going to be like a
Speaker 1: real number one? Like? They have question marks I think
Speaker 1: beyond Trabisky that make you think it might take a
Speaker 1: little while to get going. Does I do feel like
Speaker 1: we'll get a huge season from Trey Burton? He seems
Speaker 1: to fit in very well with what they're trying to do.
Speaker 1: If we got a huge season from Trey Burton is
Speaker 1: probably having a good year. That doesn't guarantee that. But
Speaker 1: Brokawan Smith is I didn't realize we had like Mit
Speaker 1: Robisky fanboys. I'm just out on people doubting. It's not
Speaker 1: just doubting him, I just like I Buzz has been
Speaker 1: so from the little that we know and just how
Speaker 1: they were coming out of college. No, I wouldn't take
Speaker 1: him over any of them. I mean this in this
Speaker 1: situation specifically, I think the preseason means absolutely nothing. Like
Speaker 1: I'm just not concerned about Matt Neggie not even actually
Speaker 1: using his offense in the pretty season and then trying
Speaker 1: to judge Trebisky. He barely put him out there, I think.
Speaker 1: But it's a little bit of a side. But the
Speaker 1: Rams and the Bears. I think if they come out strong,
Speaker 1: it might have an effect on how teams approached the
Speaker 1: quack Really they really just especially the Rams another level
Speaker 1: three two one. How do you guys think this is going?
Speaker 1: I didn't like that last segment at all. Eagles, NFC East,
Speaker 1: the defending champions. Easy question. Why would they cut Christian Hackenburg? No,
Speaker 1: just kidding. It's hard to repeat as a Super Bowl champion.
Speaker 1: Only one team has pulled it off. What years. Pat's
Speaker 1: obviously in the early Auts, Cowboys, Cowboys in the mid nineties.
Speaker 1: UM history tells us it's unlikely. Not the biggest concern
Speaker 1: I have. It's about health, and it's about two guys
Speaker 1: in particular. Obviously, Carson Wentz is number one on that list. UM,
Speaker 1: I know he is splitting reps reps evenly with Nick Foles.
Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is we're taping this
Speaker 1: on Friday. We are six days away from the kickoff
Speaker 1: of the Eagles season, and Carson Wentz has not been
Speaker 1: cleared for contact and practice yet, so he is a
Speaker 1: complete wild card about his availability. UH and Alshon Jeffrey
Speaker 1: is the other guy. He is their top wide receiver.
Speaker 1: I think I think maybe you can make Earth's you
Speaker 1: can say, or it's even though he doesn't want the
Speaker 1: According to Michael Kendricks, that's the best receiver on the team.
Speaker 1: He doesn't want that smoke. But the best wide receiver
Speaker 1: is Jeffrey. He was there leading touchdown guy last year.
Speaker 1: He's gonna miss at least two weeks, could be back
Speaker 1: week three. Bad shoulder. All right, these guys are both
Speaker 1: gonna return, um, But are they going to be the
Speaker 1: guys that the Eagles need them to be in a
Speaker 1: loaded NFC? And is it more likely that next May
Speaker 1: will be reading the puff pieces that Carson Wentz and
Speaker 1: Alston Jeffrey are both thrilled to finally we'd be back
Speaker 1: to themselves as they prepare for a new season. I
Speaker 1: think the Wentz thing is obviously concerning, just because suddenly
Speaker 1: you're gonna be in the total fray of it. But
Speaker 1: there's also in terms of the overall team health. I
Speaker 1: just find every year, from like a human angle, we
Speaker 1: tend to everyone over emphasized the first frame of the season,
Speaker 1: the first four weeks, when so much is typically decided
Speaker 1: about these teams. The rest of the way that if
Speaker 1: they can get pretty much all these guys back in
Speaker 1: good shape by week four. The coaching staff and the
Speaker 1: way this team is built, in the way that they
Speaker 1: handled injuries and adversity last year they lost their left
Speaker 1: I mean they lost a ton of guys last year too.
Speaker 1: That I just believe that you want to took a consistency,
Speaker 1: they'll carry it forward. Will wentz And and Jeffrey be
Speaker 1: back by week four? Yes, but how long is it
Speaker 1: gonna take before they what they they are what they
Speaker 1: are at their height, which was last year. That's the
Speaker 1: Mark's point is well taken. That a lot of times
Speaker 1: it's overblown. But but Dan's right, like, are you are
Speaker 1: you sure to recapture your pre injury form? Will these
Speaker 1: injuries nag? Will they lead to other injuries? Over compensation?
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of questions, and when you
Speaker 1: look at the NFC contenders, to me, the Eagles have
Speaker 1: as many questions as anyone. They do. It's a great
Speaker 1: test for the coaching staff. But they have other ways
Speaker 1: to win games. You know, they have Jim Schwartz and
Speaker 1: a deep, deep defensive line. They might feel a little
Speaker 1: better about their secondary this year with Sidney Jones and
Speaker 1: Avante Maddox in the mix than they did a year ago.
Speaker 1: They have a great offensive line, which is a great
Speaker 1: place to start, and probably an improved running game having
Speaker 1: j J. I for the whole season and Corey Clement
Speaker 1: so they like they let let's not cry for them.
Speaker 1: Let's also give a shout out to Jordan my Ladder,
Speaker 1: that rugby superstar made good. Henry's boy. You stop it,
Speaker 1: and you stop it right now. The Dallas Cowboys like
Speaker 1: Emma Chris Weston amazingly enough. I think the Cowboys have
Speaker 1: probably been underappreciated for the most of the last two years.
Speaker 1: They were eighteen and six from two thousand and sixteen
Speaker 1: to mid season last year, and then all pros Ezekiel
Speaker 1: Elliott and Tyrone Smith were unavailable. And for a team
Speaker 1: that has built and relies upon all pros to an
Speaker 1: extent that no other team does, when you lose one
Speaker 1: of them, the season goes sideways. They've already lost their
Speaker 1: All Pro center Travis Frederick, They've lost former All pros
Speaker 1: Jason Whitten and does Bryant To me, can you count
Speaker 1: on that eighteen and six teams showing up when you're
Speaker 1: already starting the season without some of your all pros?
Speaker 1: It's an issue. I mean Tyrann Smith. If Tyrann Smith
Speaker 1: is right, though, then that is such a big boost
Speaker 1: along with Ezekiel Elliott that I think it makes up
Speaker 1: for And they do have some major points of optimism.
Speaker 1: Randy Gregory could change their season. He looked better than
Speaker 1: he ever looked before he was suspended for the last
Speaker 1: two and a half years essentially, and if he gives
Speaker 1: them another pass rusher, that's something they didn't have. And
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith is going to be starting at middle linebacker
Speaker 1: and they think that he's going to be a better
Speaker 1: player than he was a year ago. And it's quite
Speaker 1: a surprise even that he is starting over their first
Speaker 1: round pick. So those are two guys. I think that
Speaker 1: that their defense could be a little more have a
Speaker 1: little more juice than a half Yeah, And will they
Speaker 1: ever pull the trigger for Earl Thomas. I don't know.
Speaker 1: They're honestly waiting on at this point to make this happen.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most bizarre situations in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Their secondary forfeit a lot of leads second half leads
Speaker 1: last year. That was a big problem. Is the NFL
Speaker 1: really gonna enter a season and go deep into a
Speaker 1: season with Khalil Mack and Earl Thomas to the greatest
Speaker 1: defenders of the last ten years are just not gonna
Speaker 1: be playing football. That's happening. I don't buy it. History
Speaker 1: tells us this will work itself out. Max is a
Speaker 1: is a weird one. But getting up against that deadline
Speaker 1: though we are, Earl Thomas especially, I think we'll be
Speaker 1: back one way or another. But even Mac, it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, do you think Thomas Lee back with
Speaker 1: the Seahawks? Though I don't know. It just sounds about
Speaker 1: is one of the most discord in scenarios out there
Speaker 1: right now with what Earl Thomas has said, and and
Speaker 1: maybe only second to Mac where they're not even talking
Speaker 1: the packard. The Cowboys traded for an offensive guard last night,
Speaker 1: Parker Arringer from the Chiefs. So I think that speaks
Speaker 1: to what you were saying West. They're missing a center
Speaker 1: and you know, we don't know how Zach Mark. How
Speaker 1: about the Cowboys of a team of a t N
Speaker 1: if they've been kind of overlooked a little bit. I
Speaker 1: actually thought about bringing that up myself, but no, no,
Speaker 1: of course not. But there they'd be more likable than
Speaker 1: in years past. I think because it's there's a lot
Speaker 1: of mystery around this team and you don't know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. I think there's much fun to watch it.
Speaker 1: Who's a had It looks like he could be a
Speaker 1: shutdown corner had probably the interception of the preseason. I'm
Speaker 1: here for like an Ezekiel Elliott like run at the
Speaker 1: rushing yardage record, which I just feel like could happen.
Speaker 1: Probably won't happen with this offensive line. But the last
Speaker 1: thing that Cowboys need is another bandwagon riding behind them,
Speaker 1: and we'd be just another bandwagon. I'm not jumping on
Speaker 1: the Cowboys like everyone else. To any listeners that were
Speaker 1: annoyed by the spirit of our picking, the Cowboys would
Speaker 1: not be awaiting. We can watch seven or primetime games together.
Speaker 1: We know that. Uh wait, how many more? Are these
Speaker 1: two more? The Washington Redskins? Greg Rosenthal. I've talked about
Speaker 1: that this Redskins team does not have an identity on
Speaker 1: defense forever, and it seems like they might have one
Speaker 1: here in Doron Payne and Jonathan all And, two guys
Speaker 1: who went to Alabama together and who looked great in
Speaker 1: the preseason. Allen looked like a different player than he
Speaker 1: did a year ago. And if they come together and
Speaker 1: they're kind of these two rocks in the middle of
Speaker 1: their defensive line, everyone else starts looking better, Preston Smith
Speaker 1: and Ryan Kerrigan and whatever is going on in the
Speaker 1: back with Josh Norman, and suddenly the defense can maybe
Speaker 1: keep up with the Redskins offense. And I feel like
Speaker 1: I've over talked about this offseason, but I think is
Speaker 1: the most exciting looking Redskins off fence that we've seen
Speaker 1: in a little while. And Adrian Peterson added to that mix.
Speaker 1: Come on, who's not now you're in? I'm in. I'm
Speaker 1: in on the red I listed them as the forgotten
Speaker 1: team in the NFC East, although I'm not sure they
Speaker 1: haven't deserved that. They have. They've been one of the
Speaker 1: worst franchises over the last you know, I know they
Speaker 1: their win loss hasn't always been terrible, but in terms
Speaker 1: of like consistent mediocrity and bad decisions, they've been up there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like it's like a small what would be the
Speaker 1: Mount rushmore of kind of forgettable teams in the last
Speaker 1: ten years, maybe the Redskins, the Lions. Yeah, definitely, it
Speaker 1: seems like the Bills. The Bills. It goes against type
Speaker 1: to build them around amount underground, like everybody would go
Speaker 1: to it, right, they try to get it together and
Speaker 1: then they're like, yeah, that's not fine. How about the
Speaker 1: one that's been like that for about twenty five or
Speaker 1: thirty years, the Miami Dolphins. But this isn't forgetting, Like,
Speaker 1: I like the idea for this Mount Rushmore is like,
Speaker 1: why is no one going to this? Because no one
Speaker 1: cares about what would anyone be totally shocked if Alex
Speaker 1: Smith had a comparable or better season than Kirk Cousins. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: not shocked. No. I mean he's he's He's going in
Speaker 1: with a healthy offense. He's a better quarterback. If Jordan,
Speaker 1: Chris Thompson and this whole group is all healthy, I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna be problem. They're gonna be problems. Makes
Speaker 1: you not as healthy as you are, you need Adrian
Speaker 1: Peterson to carry you into December for that to be
Speaker 1: all of a sudden. Yeah, Peterson is such a huge
Speaker 1: part of a team that fancies itself a division contender.
Speaker 1: It will be really fun to see him in that environment.
Speaker 1: I wonder if he could still I enjoyed. I enjoyed
Speaker 1: seeing him running exactly the same way he ran for
Speaker 1: the Cardinals last year, except this time everyone said he
Speaker 1: ran great. We uh. We usually kind of dog on
Speaker 1: the NFC East for getting stuck on our televisions every
Speaker 1: Sunday night. Just they're the kind of like the America's division.
Speaker 1: But I'm in on the NFC East this year. All
Speaker 1: four teams to be it seemed fun to watch, Like
Speaker 1: the offenses, they had the storylines. I'm I'm with these divisions,
Speaker 1: so they're finally a last living up to the Giants.
Speaker 1: It's essentially the Giants and Redskins are a little premature
Speaker 1: to me. Okay, I can't believe this is awesome. That's
Speaker 1: how you know, you know what. I felt pampered and
Speaker 1: it was awesome to have some sparkly water. I'm not
Speaker 1: to be broadcast. I was with how why did it
Speaker 1: take so long for the plug? The broadcast podcast? Finally
Speaker 1: the New York Giants, Mark all right, Dan, you're part
Speaker 1: of this one. You look at the talent on offense
Speaker 1: for and it feels like two scenarios exist for New
Speaker 1: York's scenario one with Odell Beckham sequon Barkley, Sterling Shepherd,
Speaker 1: Evan Ingram, and Nate's solder at left tackle. Pat Schirmer's
Speaker 1: offense has the requisite firepower to make him a Coach
Speaker 1: of the Year candidate. As get back to where they
Speaker 1: were just two seasons ago with the playoffs scenario, toe
Speaker 1: are doomed from the start because you can't trust er
Speaker 1: to reverse fortunes to get back to January play with
Speaker 1: a thirty seven year old Eli Manning at the helm.
Speaker 1: Per this scenario, fading Eli is much more likely to
Speaker 1: crash into the side of a building instead of doing
Speaker 1: what his brother did. Play poorly but win a Super Bowl. Anyway, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: what does your crystal ball say about got about probably
Speaker 1: thirty seconds left to discuss the team? Well, is it
Speaker 1: like that all these parts won to come together when
Speaker 1: you get an Eli Manning that does just enough to
Speaker 1: pull them back in the playoffs they were there two
Speaker 1: years ago? Or is Eli Manning the reason all these
Speaker 1: pretty parts crash into the side of a building. I
Speaker 1: want to say the latter, because that's been you know,
Speaker 1: six years worth of my analysis on this pos just
Speaker 1: a question for West, But I really believe that the talent,
Speaker 1: the skill posion talent is too good for even Eli
Speaker 1: to mess it up. Mh. And not to get all
Speaker 1: that's such a cop out, by the way, that's not
Speaker 1: that's not honest analysis. You know what you're trying to
Speaker 1: do here. You're trying to set it up where you'll
Speaker 1: be right if he sucks, but if he succeeds, so
Speaker 1: you will not get many credit for it. You'll say
Speaker 1: anybody could have done it. That's not fair, and I
Speaker 1: don't give you credit. It's absolutely the case, and it's
Speaker 1: the way if you throws, if you read the defense,
Speaker 1: if you stay on the field and you make plays,
Speaker 1: you deserve. Chris was carried by O'Dell for three years.
Speaker 1: His numbers looked okay. He did not quarterback well and
Speaker 1: that's what I expect to continue to happen. Right, we'll
Speaker 1: see how the line is. But you know, not to
Speaker 1: get to Mark Sessler on you. I know it was
Speaker 1: the preseason, but Ela, man, it look it was pretty
Speaker 1: sharpened in the one game that he was out there.
Speaker 1: He he didn't just look all right. I would say
Speaker 1: it was the best couple of quarters I can remember
Speaker 1: from me. Like, man, it was just a couple of times,
Speaker 1: but he had a couple of throws and he was
Speaker 1: protected and I was like, okay, that was that was
Speaker 1: Let's see that again. It still has still has the arm,
Speaker 1: the deep all look good. He still has the He
Speaker 1: had one play against. What a way to go out
Speaker 1: with a third Super Bowl title over the Patriots come February.
Speaker 1: Over the Patriots, West and Greg over the Patriots. My
Speaker 1: dead body, Well it's happened twice over your living one.
Speaker 1: We still have fifteen seconds. I've said my part. That's
Speaker 1: the last fifteen seconds of Eli Manning. Fame back to
Speaker 1: your beard. West. You were feeling pampered. When the pampered
Speaker 1: they put a little talcum powder on. They put some Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was it was fun. Four three best time's up,
Speaker 1: bozos um, congratulations in order now that we're out of
Speaker 1: the NFC bracket, Congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens. Let's go
Speaker 1: to the Ravens nest and just give it up. Five
Speaker 1: and oh. In the preseason, maybe that's why the nominations
Speaker 1: came from Chris with the shocking, stunning, head scratching nomination
Speaker 1: of West of the Ravens. I had no idea they
Speaker 1: were undefeated in the greatest preseason Team of All Time
Speaker 1: teams have tried him, but no one. Actually, maybe there
Speaker 1: could be some six I lost sandwiches here because I
Speaker 1: had I had ticket it at some point during one
Speaker 1: of these operations. I think it was a league like
Speaker 1: a NFL record setting four undefeated teams in the preseason,
Speaker 1: and we did not get that. So I get think
Speaker 1: that no one of us even remember when would that?
Speaker 1: I haven't. Why am I pointing out my own defeat
Speaker 1: when none of you even knew it and occurred. I
Speaker 1: have an idea, by the way, I'll just throw it
Speaker 1: out there. I'll just forward you each t yes Monday.
Speaker 1: Uh we have a show, um a podcast than Tuesday
Speaker 1: or live show one of those shows. Do you guys
Speaker 1: want to I know this is unprecedented, but just try
Speaker 1: not to dismiss it at hand. A second round of
Speaker 1: nominations for Team of a t L just so we
Speaker 1: have a little before to work with and maybe we can.
Speaker 1: I don't want us to be jammed into some type
Speaker 1: of discourse where we're the way our our the politics
Speaker 1: in our country all right now, we're left and right
Speaker 1: and there's no in the middle. Maybe we should open
Speaker 1: it up and throw a couple more teams in the the
Speaker 1: mix and maybe find some common partisan team of a
Speaker 1: t N. I'd rather watch some football, and that's what
Speaker 1: we did initially, and you can see what you like
Speaker 1: and see whatever and get a feel of these teams.
Speaker 1: Watch some real football. That's what we did for the
Speaker 1: first three or four years. That would be my thing.
Speaker 1: I don't think right now I'm going to feel any
Speaker 1: different in over the next week. Yeah, I feel like
Speaker 1: it's the least we can do, literally, um in in
Speaker 1: light of our less than inspiring performance in the first
Speaker 1: go round for the nominations, which was a debacle. I
Speaker 1: I I'm strongly in support of the Falcon still, but
Speaker 1: I see where this is heading and I know how
Speaker 1: this works, So I I just want to compromise, is
Speaker 1: what I was throwing out there. I know that I've
Speaker 1: spoken to one other member of this podcast about a
Speaker 1: potential compromise type team that we both feel we could
Speaker 1: get behind. That said, I mean, I just go with
Speaker 1: the flow on this exercise, and I would be fine
Speaker 1: waiting a little bit before we pick a team that
Speaker 1: looks like a right, We're not gonna flute nightmare. You
Speaker 1: think we're gonna pick it before a week one. You're saying,
Speaker 1: we have a mean if you want to change the rules,
Speaker 1: we can talk about that too. But I think maybe
Speaker 1: it's if you want to, like in the spirit of it,
Speaker 1: maybe we nominate teams and then we from that group
Speaker 1: that we nominate, we could let it breathe. We'll be
Speaker 1: down with this season, so maybe we down with a
Speaker 1: double compromise, double compromise. I'm just I'm with Mark, I'm
Speaker 1: along for the ride. Pick whoever you want gonna step
Speaker 1: in it. I feel good about my second nomination, though
Speaker 1: I'm not just It's not just throw away candidate. I
Speaker 1: look forward to if I look forward to hearing it. Uh.
Speaker 1: And finally, apologies to Mitch r. Biski for what happened
Speaker 1: on the I should apologize what I set up a
Speaker 1: question that was just an absolute disaster according to the
Speaker 1: rest of the room. And I've got to, as the
Speaker 1: sound bite said, pick up the game a little bit. Please.
Speaker 1: All right, We're very excited. Next time you hear from us,
Speaker 1: we will be God willing on the other side of
Speaker 1: the country, um or the world or the world excuse me.
Speaker 1: We will be going to the country. Then over the
Speaker 1: great pond that they call the Atlantic into England. We're
Speaker 1: so excited, so make sure to say hi to us
Speaker 1: if you see us there. But until then, this is
Speaker 1: Dan Henson signing off for Quiet Storm by male man,
Speaker 1: but it's trimmed Beard the old boss, an m v
Speaker 1: P behind the glass. Will miss you, Emma, Missy so
Speaker 1: much til London